It is frequently necessary during the medical treatment of a patient in a hospital to use resilient, flexible, slender tubes known as catheters for delivery of fluid intravenously. These tubes typically extend from containers holding an infusion liquid into the patient's skin where a needle projects from the tubing into the patient's vein. Catheter tubing is also used when it is necessary to remove or drain liquid from the patient's body by suction. Relatively common surgical procedures which require drainage for a prolonged period of time include dialysis and percutaneous nephrostomy.
Proper securement of the catheter tubing during medical treatment is necessary to reduce the pain, inconvenience and possible contamination to the patient at the puncture site which can otherwise occur from dislodgement of the catheter tubing from the patient's body.
In the past, catheter tubing was commonly secured to the patient by first coiling the tube to form a loop, applying a strip of adhesive tape over the loop and attaching the opposite ends of each strip of tape to the patient's skin. The function of the loop was to unravel without disturbing the catheter or needle when unexpected tension was applied to the tubing.
More recently, devices have been developed which facilitate anchoring of catheter tubing to the patient e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,943 to J. D. Hill et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,128 to R. H. McFarlane; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,446 to P. M. Buttaravoli.
Force connectors have also been developed which reduce or eliminate the need for loops in the tubing. In use, a force connector may be attached, for example, between the drainage container and tubing or to the anchoring device between two lengths of tubing. In the latter situation, the force connector provides fluid communication between a first length of catheter tubing extending from the drainage container to one side of the force connector and the second length of tubing extending from the other side of the connector through the anchoring device into the patient's skin. The force connector used in this instance is designed to disconnect, typically from the first length of tubing, at a predetermined tension level without disturbing the anchoring device or second length of tubing. This disconnection prevents dislodgement of the catheter and needle from the patient. For this type of force connector to operate properly, the second length of tubing must be suitably secured to the anchoring device, and the anchoring device in turn must be properly affixed to the patient's skin. When force connectors are not utilized, it is even more important that the application of force to the catheter tubing be transmitted through the anchoring device to the patient's skin to reduce the possibility of tubing dislodgement.
Besides the need for the anchoring device to be both properly attached to the patient's skin and to secure the catheter tube, it is also advantageous if the anchoring device is capable of both easy installation and removal from the catheter tube while the tube is operably attached to the patient. Furthermore, for the patient's comfort and safety, e.g. so as not to be interfered with by the patient's movement or clothing, it is desirable to redirect the tubing from the puncture site, where it leaves normal to the patient's skin, to a direction parallel to the patient's skin, without causing interference in the fluid flow by kinking or crimping of the tubing.
It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide a device attachable to the patient's skin which provides a sleeve or passageway positionable around an operably positioned catheter tubing that changes the tube orientation and restrains or anchors the tubing against removal from the patient.